Power utility companies use power distribution lines to carry power to customers spanning large geographic areas, typically from one or more power generating stations (or power plants) to residential and commercial customer sites. The power is carried on power distribution lines from the power plants at relatively high voltages and using alternating current (AC). Substations are commonly located near the customer sites to provide a step-down of the high voltage to a lower voltage (e.g., using transformers). Power distribution lines carry this lower-voltage AC from the substations to multitudes of customer sites at which endpoint (e.g., power-consumption metering) devices are installed to monitor and report on the power consumed at each site.
Power distribution systems can take on various different forms, oftentimes differentiated based on how the power distribution lines and the endpoint devices are used by the utility companies. One form of a power distribution system, referred to as a power-line communication (PLC) system, has each of the multitudes of the endpoint devices configured to provide reports on the power consumed at each site by the endpoint devices transmitting this data back to the utility companies over the power lines. Another less-sophisticated type of power distribution system does not send data over the power lines (to/or from the endpoint devices), but rather relies on a meter reader to walk to each customer site and manually read each such endpoint device in order to track the power consumed.
Some of the more technically-robust PLC systems have implemented communications between customer sites through the use of mesh networks. In such mesh networks, layers of communication devices relay power outage information with communication connections being passed between adjacent communication devices, from the outermost layers towards the data collector device by way of nearby communication devices associated with the inner layers. This approach extends the communication reach of the PLC systems so as to reach customer facilities remotely located in the outermost layers of the network, and such systems can be implemented in a distributed manner so that there is no single point of failure. Moreover, when the outage event permits, this layer-to-layer communications approach can help to mitigate delays in terms of detecting outages and providing the service team with the needed confirmation.
In PLC networks, endpoint devices in the network (e.g., meters, load control switches, remote service switches, and other endpoints) can provide updated information (e.g., power consumption information and/or endpoint operating status information) by transmitting data over power lines that also carry alternating current. However, digital communication over noisy channels (e.g., over power lines and wireless mediums) poses a challenge to reliable, efficient, error-free data transfer between a transmitter and receiver.
As smart power systems (e.g., smart street lighting) emerge, electronic controllers which previously performed dusk to dawn switching of the endpoint devices are now being configured to perform additional tasks. For instance, newer generations of endpoint controllers for street lights, in addition to performing dusk to dawn switching, use photo controllers, provide WI-FI hotspots, transmit geo-location and diagnostics information, and measure energy consumption among other examples. Measurements of energy consumption by the endpoint device are particularly useful for determining how much energy each respective endpoint device has consumed, as may be useful for utility billing purposes.
Calibration of endpoint controllers ensures not only proper operation of the endpoint controllers, but that energy consumption measurements obtained by the controller are accurate. Monitoring and calibration systems may be used to determine accuracy of the endpoint controller, though these systems include the use of a plurality of test units (e.g., a Radian portable standard, a comparator, a streetlight adapter, a load, etc.) which are to be run one at a time. Accordingly, such systems are time consuming, and use a number of different pieces of equipment in order to monitor and calibrate endpoint controllers.